April 9, 2007

Random thoughts

If you've read Luke's blog from yesterday below, you might think I got bit by a giant, mean dog. Truth is I was feeding a starving little puppy that weighed about 2 pounds and it got really excited and bit my finger. Don't worry, I've learned my lesson! Another lesson I learned over the past weekend is that the sun here is bien fuerte. Luke and I spent the day at the pool on Saturday at a nice hotel in Teguc. I waited for 10 minutes before putting sunscreen on my chest and legs hoping to get a little sun on them because that was the first time I had been in a swimsuit besides the day at the beach. Well, either the sunscreen didn't work well or the sun really is that strong because I am really burnt and regretting it. I guess I've been making some poor decisions lately! :)


There are several things I've been wanting to blog about recently but none of which deserves a single blog entry so I'm just going to blog about them all in this one.


I figured some of you might wonder how much daily things cost here. Right now $1 equals about 19 Honduran lempiras. A 20 oz. Diet Coke costs 11 lempiras (55 cents), a cup of coffee costs aobut 4 lemps (20 cents), one pound of Honduran coffee in the supermarket costs 28 lempiras ($2), and a 1/2 liter bag of drinking water (they sell drinking water in plastic bottles too but they're more expensive) costs 2 or 3 lemps (10 or 15 cents). Fruit is really cheap too. For example, last weekend when Luke visited I bought fruit at the market in La Paz (see picture from one of the previous entries). A pineapple, 3 cantaloupes, 4 bananas, and a bag of 7 mangos cost me 35 lemps ($1.85). A good snack here is a baleada which is just a big flour tortilla with beans, scrambled eggs, cheese and fresh avocado slices (if you want) folded in half and warmed up on the stove for a bit. A baleada costs between 5 lemps (just beans and cheese) to 8 lemps (26-42 cents). Beer is expensive here (relatively, I suppose). A single bottle of beer in a supermarket or liquor store costs about 18 lemps (95 cents). Depending on the town and the establishment, you can get a beer for 10 lemps (53 cents). There is what is known as the "gringo tax" where a bar/restaurant owner will charge more for the beer if a gringo (American) is buying it. Restaurants, especially in smaller towns, rarely have an actual menu for you to look at (you just ask what they have at that time). If they do have a menu, it's usually a list of what they can make and not of the prices so the gringo tax is easy to implement. Rum, unlike beer, is pretty cheap. A big bottle of Nicaraguan rum, Flor de Caña, costs about $5.

Fruits here are plentiful and cheap like I mentioned. I have tried many fruits that I never knew existed. Apparently pineapples here are extra sweet and because of this can't be exported because the sweet variety spoils too quickly. They're super good, that's for sure. Besides pineapple, you can find cantaloupe, watermelon, mango (at least 3 different varieties), oranges, grapes, strawberries (less common), regular bananas, small bananas called mínimos, papaya, and limes. Fruits you might have to google to figure out what they are are: guayaba, ciruela, nance, and tamarindo. It's hard to find pears and apples here and when you find them, they were imported from the US and not that great of quality.

Piropos....where do I start? They're so common I figured I have to blog about them. Piropos are basically cat-calls that women get here from men on the street and you get even more if you're a gringa. They are super annoying and can range from what would be considered a more polite piropo which is a kissing sound to them saying things to you like "i love you", "bye-bye", "my princess", "beautiful woman", etc. Many of these phrases can be said in English (thanks to American television) or in Spanish or in a combination of the two. The best reaction to the piropos is ignoring them but when someone is extra persistent or I've gotten 4+ in one single walk across town, I usually yell something at them. The men who give them are, for the most part, harmless and don't want to hurt you they just want to let you know that they think you are pretty. It totally grosses me out and I'll probably never get completely used to it but I can deal with it.

Social drinking is an interesting topic...In Honduras it doesn't really exist unless it's among the university educated and upper classes. The way Honduras see it, there are two types of people...bolos (drunks) and people who don't drink at all. Having a few beers with friends or after work is rare (unless it's among the well educated like I mentioned earlier). Women for the most part do not drink in public and never go to the cantinas or pool halls unless they're "working" there. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that my family here in La Paz can enjoy social drinking. The day I arrived to La Paz, my host mom handed me a glass of wine to welcome me. A few days later, my host mom celebrated her 56th birthday and when I came home from lunch, there were a bunch of people there celebrating and drinking a beer so she handed me one. (She asked me if I wanted another one after the first one but I had to say no because I had to go back to class an hour later!). When I came home for dinner another group of people were there celebrating so I shared another beer with them.

Ok, I think that's all the random thoughts for now. Be sure to read Luke's blog from yesterday below mine.

2 comments:

Mark said...

HOLY Smokes. Que Pasa Amigos. You guys are in Honduras! Wow! This is Mark Gingerich: long lost cousin # 428. I've checked out the blog a couple of times in the last few weeks but didn't get a chance to look back at the wealth of previous entries until today. Annie I hope you're keeping Luke in line. Luke, I hope you are finding your way out if line. Happy Easter to both of you, the Blog is a great idea, Jean told me about it. I'll keep checking it. Definitely keep posting stuff. I'll write more later. Best wishes in this Adventure.

Mark

P.S. Sorry about the Toyota (I saw the early blog about having to sell it, I wonder if you could have driven it down to Honduras...)

Erin said...

Annie- It is interesting to hear how much things cost and such- I think the social drinking thing is interesting, as in Mexico people drink all the time, anywhere and at almost any time of the day. But, logically every country is different! I can imagine that the honduran men are totally in love with you- I am sure it will get annoying, but I am sure it could be worse-alteast they aren't saying mean things to you! When Luke is with you he can take 'em down! Glad your dog bite wasn't too bad- Sounds like you are having fun! I miss you! Take care and lots of love!

Erin and baby Vega who is kicking around more and more every day!